Vote for UEFA.com users' Team of the Year

Voting has opened for the UEFA.com users' Team of the Year 2011. The poll, in its 11th year, gives UEFA.com users the chance to pick a team of players who have lit up the European game over the last 12 months.

Voting will run until 12.00CET on Friday 6 January, before the final lineup is announced on Wednesday 18 January on UEFA.com and in the January edition of Champions, the official UEFA Champions League magazine.

A total of 55 players and five coaches have been nominated to fill 11 positions on the pitch and one in the dugout. The nominees were selected by UEFA.com staff writers based on their daily coverage of football across the length and breadth of Europe. The players were chosen for their performances for a European club or national team, or in a UEFA club competition, in 2011.

The UEFA.com Team of the Year is not intended to rival more established awards and does not bear the official UEFA imprimatur. However, it has proved hugely popular with fans since its inception, with five million votes cast last year alone.

UEFA Champions League winners FC Barcelona lead the way with eight nominated players along with coach Josep Guardiola. Lionel Messi and Xavi Hernández could feature for the fourth successive year while Real Madrid CF duo Cristiano Ronaldo and Iker Casillas may make the cut for the fifth time running – Ronaldo also won a place in 2004.

Alongside Guardiola, the coaching contenders all guided their clubs to domestic championships – in Sir Alex Ferguson's case a record 19th in England as he celebrated 25 years at the Manchester United FC helm. Jürgen Klopp restored Dortmund to the German summit, Rudi Garcia oversaw LOSC Lille Métropole's first French double since 1946 and André Villas-Boas masterminded FC Porto's treble in his first season before moving to Chelsea FC.

Overall, 22 clubs are represented, with five English sides supplying nominees and four apiece from Spain and Italy.

UEFA will present a €100,000 cheque to the captain of the UEFA.com users' Team of the Year, which will be donated to the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

UEFA began its partnership with the ICRC in 1997 when it started to back its anti-landmine campaign. This will be the fifth time the ICRC will benefit from the cheque offered by UEFA to herald the selection of the UEFA.com users' Team of the Year.

All monies donated have gone to the Score for the Red Cross initiative in support of the ICRC rehabilitation project for landmine victims in Afghanistan – providing them with artificial limbs, physiotherapy and vocational training. The first cheque was handed over to the ICRC by Cristiano Ronaldo, followed in subsequent years by Barcelona players Xavi, Messi and Carles Puyol.

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